ALMIGHTYand everlasting God, who hatest nothing that
thou has made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent:Create and make in us new and contrite
hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our
wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and
forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

Readings:2
Corinthians 6:1-10; St. Matthew 4:1-11

Why have men always
fasted?Originally, perhaps, to move
the pity of heaven by a sort of hungerstrike; to show that their prayers were
in earnest.But it is as necessary now
as ever it was that we should show our prayers to be in earnest.God bestows himself on those who desire
him.What then is the evidence that we
desire him?Not words alone, feeling
still less.Nothing but action can give
seriousness to our desire for God.We
are in earnest if for God‘s sake we displease ourselves. If we abstain from
needless indulgence, much more, if we find the weak point in our service of
God, and attack it with resolution.Resolutions are no good, unless we are prepared to find them broken, and
to renew them every day. It is no fast if it is easy.Displease yourself, and have fellowship with Christ. For he
pleased not himself, and his prayers were heard.And for what did he pray?He prayed for, and obtained, our salvation.

Austin Farrer, The Crown of the Year, Dacre
Press, 1952

Collect for Lent I

O LORD, who for our
sake didst fast forty days and forty nights:Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to
the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness and true holiness,
to thy honour and glory; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, one God, world without end.Amen.

“Now is the accepted time.” (2 Corinthians 6:1-10)

What does it mean to receive God’s grace “in
vain”?Grace is the free gift
of God’s love - not what we deserve or have earned, but what we need.At the end of Chapter 5, St. Paul declares
that God has opened to us the way of reconciliation through the sacrificial
death of Jesus, by which He removes our sin and offers us righteousness in
Christ.This is the activity of God’s
grace.We are both to receive and to
share it, living out the new life in communion with God -not simply after death, but today, here and
now, for, “Now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.”
Insofar as we do not do this, the gift is “vain” in our lives.How does His grace take hold of your
life?Are you “amazed” by it?Would you say that you have received that
grace “in vain” or faithfully?

St. Paul goes on to write about his own experience - and
clearly that of some fellow ministers of the Gospel, for he refers to “we” - of
that grace at work in his life.Their
faithful response is one of patient endurance and is presented both to
establish credentials (v.3 “We give no offence in anything…”) and to set
out the costs and blessings which accompany it.William Barclay sums up the costs thus: i) the internal
conflicts (v.4“tribulations”, “needs”,
“distresses”);ii) external
tribulations (v.5 “stripes”, “prisons”, “tumults” ); iii) the effort of the
Christian life (v.5 “toils”, “sleepless nights”, “fastings”).But God gives us what we need to overcome: i)
God-given qualities of mind (v.6 “purity”, “knowledge”, “patience”),ii) qualities of heart (v.6
“kindness”, “the Holy Spirit”, “sincere love”), iii) equipment for the work of
preaching the gospel (v.7 “the word of truth”, “the power of God”, “the weapons
of righteousness for the right hand and for the left” [i.e. for attack and for
defence].Finally, in verses 8-10,
St. Paul contraststhe way in which they are viewed - one might say,
“caricatured” - by others with the reality of who they are in
Christ.It is summed up in the final
phrase, acknowledging that, in worldly terms all has been lost, yet, in terms
of the Kingdom, they (we) have all things in Christ.What does it cost you to follow Jesus?

Week 2LENT II“Called to holiness.”

Collect for ASH WEDNESDAY

ALMIGHTYand everlasting God, who hatest nothing that
thou has made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent:Create and make in us new and contrite
hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our
wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and
forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

Readings:1 Thessalonians 4:1-7; St.
Matthew 15:21-28

What parent could take
the children’s food and throw it to the dogs?For the hunger of the children is simple and obsessing.When they are hungry there is nothing that
they want but food, and until their hunger is relieved, they have no mind for
anything else.Their present mind is
their hunger; they are their hunger. How happy are parents in the ability to
bestow contentment so simply and so fully, as by giving the children the
children’s bread.And now in the name
of the divine Father I must take bread, say grace for it, and distribute it.But when it comes to distribution, I shall
find myself in the children’s part; we shall receive together, as though from
those merciful hands.The mercy of
heaven rejoices, to satisfy the children’s hunger with the children’s
bread.Their hunger is for this, and
this is what satisfies.What happiness,
therefore, to the giver.And the
children are happy if they hunger for this bread, if their hunger possesses
them, until their hunger is their mind.Blessed are they, says Christ, that hunger and thirst, for they shall be
filled.And Christ is best able so to
say, being himself the bread.Austin Farrer

Collect for Lent II

ALMIGHTY God, who seest
that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in
our bodies, and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all
adversities which may happen to the body, and from evil thoughts which may
assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

“Called to holiness.” (I Thessalonians 4:1-7)

St.
Paul was writing to Christian converts who had grown up in a pagan
society.Unlike the Jews, who followed
strict moral codes set out in the Law and Commandments given through Moses, the
Greeks had been notorious for their tolerance of sexual immorality.Now, under the Roman Empire, the accepted
behaviour of Thessalonian society continued to be a challenge for the new
believers in Jesus who had been called out to a new way of living (literally “walking”,
i.e. “…just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please
God;” v.1).“For this is the
will of God,…that each of you should know how to possess his vessel in
sanctification and honour.” v.(3&) 4Some commentators have
interpretedthese words as referring to
a man’s wife -apparently rabbis used “vessel”(Greek skeuos) in this way - hence calling for sanctity within marriage
and avoidance of adultery (v.6).Others
read “vessel” as “body”(see
2 Cor.4:7), and understand this as a call
to personal holiness (v.6 could refer to business dealings).

Earlier in the letter (see chapter 1), St. Paul
commends them for continuing in the faith; now he calls them on to further
growth.They have turned “fromidols to serve the living and true God” (1:9), but clearly their behaviour has not yet come fully
under the Gospel standard.The call to
abstain from sexual immorality (Greek porneia, often translated as “fornication”,
but having to do with any sexual relations outside of marriage) is seen as more
than a directive from the apostle: it is “the will of God” v.3 (also v.8).Christians are called to set up the standard of holiness as a clear
alternative to what the world has on offer.Do our lives display this standard ?The call to holiness affects every aspect of our relation-ships
with others: speech (gossip, talking behind others’ backs); honesty in
business; honour-ing God with our finances; integrity between
thoughts/attitudes and actions (Mt. 5:21-30).

Week 3LENT
III“Children of the light.”

Collect for ASH WEDNESDAY

ALMIGHTYand everlasting God, who hatest nothing that
thou has made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent:Create and make in us new and contrite
hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our
wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and
forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

Readings:Ephesians
5:1-14St. Luke 11:14-26

CHRIST broke his
mysterious body and gave it to his disciples at the Supper without explaining
at that time what the breaking and giving would mean.There was no need, the facts would presently make it clear.What then, was done to this body?It was stripped, scourged, and nailed to a
cross:stripped of all dignity and all
possession, scourged with the stroke of penal justice, and nailed up like a
dead thing while it was still alive.The body you receive in this sacrament accomplished its purpose by
nailing to a tree.You are to become
this body, you are to be nailed to Christ’s sacrificial will.The nails that hold you are God’s
commandments, your rules of life, prayers, confessions, communions regularly
observed.Let us honour the nails for
Christ’s sake, and pray that by the virtue of his passion they may hold
fast.Austin Farrer

Collect for Lent III

WE beseech thee,
Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants, and stretch
forth the right hand of thy Majesty, to be our defence against all our enemies;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

“Children of the light.” (Ephesians 5:1-14)

How are we to be “imitators [followers] of God”?Does it have to do with displaying the
“family likeness” to our heavenly Father?Jesus, in the “Sermon
on the Mount” exhorts His disciples to behave as, “sons of your Father in
heaven” and to, “be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect”.
(Mt.5:45 & 48)He is speaking
particularly about loving enemies, returning blessing upon those who persecute
you - demonstrating the higher ethics of the Kingdom of God.St. Paul, writing to the Ephesians, has been
setting before his fellow disciples the need to live in keeping with their new
creation in Christ - “in true righteousness and holiness” 4:24 - especially
regarding their willingness to forgive one another, “even as God in Christ
forgave you” 4:32.Jesus is the
model for how that new life is to be lived: the One in whom we see the perfect
life of God lived out in human flesh (4:32 - 5:1,2).St. John wrote of Jesus as the “true
Light” Jn.1:1-9 and St. Paul describes the Ephesians’ as those who were,
“once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.Walk as children of light.” 5:8To walk in the light is to live according to the higher ethics of
the Kingdom, in holiness and righteousness, refusing to co-operate with the
things of darkness, rather exposing them for what they truly are 5:11, 12.“And this is the condemnation, that the
light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because
their deeds were evil.For everyone who
practises evil hates the light…lest his deeds should be exposed.But he who does the truth comes to the
light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” Jn
3:19-21.It is not only what we do,
but how we speak as well.Immorality is
not worthy of being discussed nor joked about by “saints” [i.e. Christians]
5:3,4.What specific things in your
own life need to be brought into the Light?Anything in our words, actions or thoughts with which we would not be comfortable
being about if others - especially the Lord - could observe us, is surely
something which survives only in the darkness.Does this judgement upon careless use of the tongue apply to
gossip, unkind criticisms, talking behind others’ backs, cursing, etc.?

Week 4LENT IV“Freedom in Christ.”

Collect for ASH WEDNESDAY

ALMIGHTYand everlasting God, who hatest nothing that
thou has made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent:Create and make in us new and contrite
hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our
wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and
forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

Readings:Galatians
4:26 - 5:1; St. John 6:5-14

Everything that is true
of Christ’s body is true of us in some manner.He gives us his body that we may become his body.Christ’s body died on the cross, he also
rose.The resurrection is ours, but the
death is also ours.Many men, at the
last challenge, have consented to be martyrs, and set their bodies aside.But Christ’s passion was no more than the
last expression of what he had done all his life. He had set his body aside
whenever its demands conflicted with man’s need or God’s will, and so he had
rehearsed his death continually; not morbidly, but with joy and
self-forgetfulness.We have many
opportunities so to rehearse our death, and how steadily we reject them!Our bed, our chair retains us when we should
get up and pray; fleshly delights of act and imagination, some by no means
innocent, hold us from following better inspirations.Our own pleasure comes before our neighbour’s, vanity before
sympathy.How will it be when
rehearsals are over, and we have to act our part, to put our bodies finally
off, that we may possess God?If Christ
offers us up with his own death in this sacrament, it is that we may die a
voluntary and daily death, and merit a daily resurrection.Austin Farrer

Collect for Lent IV

GRANT, we beseech thee,
Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be
punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.Amen.

“Freedom in Christ.” (Galatians 4:26 - 5:1)

What does it mean to be
truly free?To do simply what we want
to do?Or is it to do God’s will?

[Read Genesis 15:1-6; 16; 17:1
- 18:5; 21:1-21, esp.v.12].The Lord
had promised to Abram more descendants than he could count.Although Sarai, his wife, appeared to be
barren, still Abram trusted in God’s promise.However, as the years went by without result, Sarai offered her
maid/bondservant/slave Hagar to her husband that he might have a son with her -
who, following ancient tradition, could then be considered as Sarai’s son,
since Hagar belonged to her as well. Yet this was the human way of doing things (recall St. John 1:13) not
God’s way.As we see again and again in
Scripture, the Lord works through
human weakness, through our faith in Him, that we might be, like Isaac,
children of promise: born according to the Lord’s
will (reflected in name changes
Gen.17:5 & 15).St. Paul, writing to the Galatians, equates Hagar and her son with Mount
Sinai, the Old Covenant and bondage to the Law: the external commandments
which, althoughwe endeavour to keep
them by our human effort, are always beyond our ability to fulfil.In contrast, Sarah and Isaac are equated
with the heavenly Jerusalem, the New Covenant and freedom in Christ: the grace
that works through faith.Commentators,
such as Chrysostom or Luther, see the quote from Isaiah 54:1 (v.27) as
referring to the shift from the synagogue to the Church; from the children of
Abraham by natural birth, to his true children by faith (cf. Jn.8:37-40; Rom.4:9ff; Gal.3:7); where there were no “children” among the Gentiles,
now there is an abundance through the Gospel: we have become children of the
heavenly Jerusalem, our Mother: the Church of Jesus Christ.When we truly live by grace, giving up
ourselves to the Father’s will, apprehending the Gospel by faith, we become
free to “Love God, and do what you like (want)” [St. Augustine] because what we then desire is nothing but the Father’s will.

Week 5LENT V (Passion Sunday)“Entering
into the New Covenant.”

Collect for ASH WEDNESDAY

ALMIGHTYand everlasting God, who hatest nothing that
thou has made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent:Create and make in us new and contrite
hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our
wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and
forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

Readings:Hebrews
9:11-15; St. Matthew 20:20-28

The body we receive in
this sacrament is a body that died, and having died was buried.The body was done to death and laid in a
tomb, to wait for a divine miracle.Christ lies in his sepulchre the image of Christian hope; nothing lies
there but the bare hope of resurrection.Hope stretches between sacrifice and life renewed.Vision can often see no further than the sacrifice
which God’s commandments impose; it cannot descry the enrichment of life which
God’s grace intends.Hope holds the
gap. ‘Must I rule the appetite of sex within the law of Christ, must I
persevere in practices of prayer which are dry and seemingly infertile?It is death to my spirits.What life will ever come of it for the Christian
people or for me?’If this is death, I
ought to embrace it for Christ’s sake, and be willing not only to die, but to
lie dead in sure and certain hope.Where the burial of Christ is, there the resurrection of Christ will
be.Austin Farrer

Collect for Lent V Passion Sunday

WE beseech thee,
Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great goodness
they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through
Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

“Entering into the New Covenant.” (Hebrews 9:11-15)

If a “covenant” involves an agreement between two parties
where each vows to keep his/her part, what is required of us under the New
Covenant?(see
Romans 12)

William
Barkley wrote: “We must remember three
things which are basic to the thought of the writer to the Hebrews. i) Religion
is access to God.Its function is to
bring a man into God’s presence.ii)
This is a world of pale shadows and imperfect copies; beyond is the world of realities.The function of all worship is to bring men
into contact with the eternal realities.That was what the worship of the Tabernacle was meant to do; but the
earthly Tabernacle and its worship are pale copies of the real Tabernacle and
the real worship; and only the real Tabernacle and the real worship can give
access to reality.iii) There can be no
religion without sacrifice.Purity is a
costly thing; access to God demands purity; somehow man’s sin must be atoned
for and his uncleanness cleansed.With
these ideas in his mind the writer to the Hebrews goes on to show that Jesus is
the only High Priest who brings a sacrifice that can open the way to God and
that that sacrifice is himself.” (Daily Study Bible Hebrews).C.S.Lewis referred to this world as the “Shadowlands”, and pictured the
Kingdom of God as that which was truly real (see his reflection on heaven & hell: The Great Divorce ).Most of what we achieve in this world passes away with us, so Jesus
called His followers to be concerned with that which is eternal: “treasures
in heaven”. (Mt.6:19-21).Hebrews tells us that Jesus has offered the “One oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient
sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.” (B.C.P.
p.82)In contrast with the sacrifices under the Old Covenant (“bulls & goats” Leviticus 16 esp.vs.14,15; “ashes
of a heifer” Numbers 19 esp.v.2) Jesus’
self-offering counts for all people in every age, opening to each one who would
approach the Father by means of Him (He
is the “Mediator” v.15)the Way to reconciliation and new life with God (Jn.14:6)All of the ritual requirements of the Law are
fulfilled in Jesus (read esp.
Leviticus 1-27). If our lives are truly given over to
following and living in Him, we are made righteous before the Father.(cf. 2Cor.5:21)

Week 6LENT VI(Palm Sunday)“The mind of Christ.”

Collect for ASH WEDNESDAY

ALMIGHTYand everlasting God, who hatest nothing that
thou has made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent:Create and make in us new and contrite
hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our
wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and
forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

Readings:Philippians
2:5-11; St. Matthew 27:1-54

After Jesus had died on
the cross, his disciples hoped to keep his body with them as a sacred
relic.They shut it in with stone, they
came to embalm it.St. Magdalen was
disconsolate that she could not find it.But Jesus had given his body to them at the Supper in the form in which
he meant them to have it, a form which did not involve its being stored on
earth.He would continually give it
them from heaven, where he lives.It is
a heavenly being he bestows on us, it is in his heavenly body that he unites
us.Lift up your hearts; by this
sacrament you are parts of Christ, and Christ is the heart of heaven.Austin Farrer.

Collect for Lent VIPalm Sunday

ALMIGHTY and
everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son our
Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the
cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility:Mercifully grant, that we may both follow
the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

“The mind of Christ.” (Philippians 2:5-11 [cf. Romans 12:2])

What does it mean to have the “mind of Christ”?Philippians 2 begins with St. Paul’s
exhortation to his friends that they be “of one mind” (v.2); yet
this unanimity is not to be simply a consensus of opinion, but rather a mutual
submission to the mind “which was also in Christ Jesus”.The attitude which this represents is
detailed in verses 5-11, as Paul describes the self-effacement of the One who
put aside the glory which was His by right - by very nature! -in order to share our humanity and to suffer
both with us and for us, even to the point of death upon the Cross.This is the “last Adam” (I Cor. 15:45) who restores the right order of human relationship with God through a
life of perfect, humble, sinless obedience to the Father’s will, redeeming us
by His atoning sacrifice upon the Cross.

The “first” Adam grasped at equality with God (“…in the day you eat of [the forbidden fruit] your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…” Genesis 3:5); Jesus let go (Phil.2:7).Adam, coveting a new life of wisdom and
freedom, trusted to his own judgement, contrary to the expressed will of God,
and received bondage, darkness and death.Jesus did nothing “but the
will of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30 cf.19), although it meantwalking the “Via Dolorosa” (“Way of sorrows” i.e. “Way of the
Cross”), being bound, beaten, surrounded by darkness, and lifted up in
death; and He was raised into glory, opening to us the way of salvation, true
freedom, and eternal Life.Still, I
say, “It’s my life to live
as I choose!“St. Paul reminds me, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.“ (I Cor.
6:19,20)and Jesus calls me onward,
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

The “mind”
we are to have is that of the “followers” or “disciples” of Jesus, those who
pattern their lives upon His attitude, His will, His ways - “ …for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a
servant like his master.” “For I have given you an example, that you should do
as I have done to you.” “Love one another as I have loved you.” (Mt. 10:25;
John 13:15; 15:12) - which are
the Father’s attitude, will and ways.It is not just trying to be humble like He is; it is giving up ourselves
wholly to the Father’s will, letting that become the focus of our lives: dying
in Christ, being raised to new life in Him. “For me to live is Christ,…” (Gal. 1:21)